Via Scoop.it – Other Atlanta News Events
Realtor.com: Spring buying season shows promise. U.S. housing market trends tracked by Realtor.com show a trifecta of promise: a shrinking number of homes on the market, fresher inventory, and an increase in median list price.
Atlanta is # 7 out of 10 cities that the number of For Sale listings is down compared to a year ago! If you are home or condo shopping and can’t seem to find the right one, this just might be the very reason!
Via www.inman.com
Hot Time In The City (or Country) — Tips For Keeping Your Cool!
Yep. Summer is just around the corner…and you know what that means……HOTLANTA! Whew! 90 something everyday! I walk out at 7am on my way to my Midtown Atlanta office and think, “Man, can it just stay THIS temperature for the rest of the day?” It doesn’t happen. So, here’s a few tips for YOU to keep you cool in the upcoming hot days of the summer.
* Set your thermostat higher when away at work, or away on vacation. About 5 degrees will do it.
* Set your thermostat at 78 degrees or higher and forget it! By raising your temperature you could save about a $100 on your summer power bills
* Change your air conditioning filter. Whether you live in an older house in Historic Midtown Atlanta, or a new condominium, you’d be amazed at how dirty those guys get. And dirty means less efficiency, and making your a/c work harder. Set yourself a reminder on your calendar. (You should change your filter every other month!)
* Check your doors and windows for leaks. For our condo dwellers, newer buildings are pretty tight, but your older buildings might not be so. If you have cobwebs or high levels of dust, you probably have air leaks. (Shoot, I thought that was just from my extreme desire NOT to do house cleaning….)
* If in a single family home, be sure to make sure your outdoor condenser can “breathe” and is not covered up by landscape shrubs
*Have your system regularly serviced (usually spring and fall) to keep it at its peak performance. In Midtown Atlanta, we condo dwellers often forget that we have a unit somewhere (like maybe on the roof) that should be serviced. Of course this requires a bit of extra planning to the building maintenance people can get your a/c man on the roof.
Just a few cool tips to keep you cool in th upcoming Dog Days of Summer in Midtown Atlanta!
WOW Trent!
You truly DO bring up the other side of the coin in the real estate transaction! But how a Seller would EVER think they are going to sell their place and not have enough money from the proceeds, or their pocket (a.k.a IRA, Savings Account, etc) is amazing!
A great article to pass along!
Yes, My Buyer Has the Money to Buy . . . Does Your Seller Have the Money to Sell? Get the facts on the seller’s ability to sell, before putting the home on the market!
I believe it is pretty standard real estate practice in most areas to have a pre-qualification / pre-approval letter (or proof of funds), to submit to the seller along with the buyer’s offer. It reassures the seller and provides the buyer a stronger bargaining position.
In fact, experienced agents generally like to have a copy of this letter from the buyer’s lender, before they even begin showing homes to the buyer. Kinda makes sense really. Why waste everyone’s time looking at, or making offers on, homes the buyer can’t afford? That’s nothing but a one-way ride down Heartbreak Alley for all concerned.
The seller’s ability to sell on the other hand has always been assumed. There is no request for a “lender clearance letter” from the seller, verifying that the seller can afford to sell, prior to an offer being submitted by a buyer. Of course, this is because part of a listing agent’s responsibility should include getting payoff information and preparing a net sheet or estimate of proceeds for the seller when listing a property. So it makes sense that any offer accepted by the seller should ensure that the loan payoff and other closing expenses are covered, or the seller has sufficient cash on hand to close.
Because, yeah, it sucks pretty bad — as recently happened to me — to have to explain to your buyer just days before closing that well, see, the seller actually can’t afford to sell at the agreed upon price. He in fact owes tens of thousands of dollars more than the agreed upon price. It’s particularly bad to have to explain this to buyers who expressly said they weren’t interested in looking at / offering on short sale properties, due to the hassles and delays involved. Uh, awkward . . .
It’s one thing to embark on the short sale saga when forewarned and armed for battle, it’s another to be blindsided by it.
Obviously in this business there are always unexpected turns and unforeseen scenarios that are hard to predict (the above case being one such extremely unusual transaction), but clearly this is not an isolated instance and I am not the only one to have had this experience.
I recently closed a transaction on a listing of mine here in Pickens County GA, where the young, first-time home buyer, was at closing for a second time within a couple of months. His prior transaction had fallen apart at the closing table, when it was “discovered” that the seller was selling short, without lender approval, and therefore couldn’t close. (How it got that far without being flagged by someone sooner is beyond me.)
I now get calls from other agents who want to show my listings, but who preface the conversation with something like, “Can the seller close at this price? Is there a possibility it will be a short sale? Just thought I’d check before wasting my buyer’s time . . .” Sounds like they too have been burned by the “undisclosed”, “unknown” short sale.
I think we all get the fact that short sales are on the rise. They are part of our environment and will be for some time. But, just as we pre-qualify buyers, we need to pre-qualify sellers and disclose up front whether or not it is a short sale, or has the potential to be a short sale. It is also important to double-check the numbers before the seller accepts any offer, particularly if the offer is substantially lower than list price, or the home has been on the market for a while, not just as an essential part of our duty to our clients, but as a courtesy to other agents and the public as well.
Seems like common sense, but . . .
Trent D Cluley
Keller Willliams Realty – Select Partners
770-757-3399
www.PickensGeorgiaRealEstate.comSEARCH ALL PICKENS COUNTY & NORTH GA HOMES AND LAND FOR SALE!
UPDATE — APRIL 9, 2014
The Atlantic has announced they will begin converting leased units back to condominiums FOR SALE! As of this date, they have released floors 7-20 and 41 to 47 which include some incredible penthouse homes!
For MORE INFORMATION about The Atlantic Residences, please visit:
We’ve heard this was coming, and now it’s official! 324 homes in the tallest residential building in Atlantic Station are now available for immediate lease in The Atlantic! WOW! In fact before ST Residential sold the building, I reported they were moving some 80 homes to rentals in December, 2011.
This news had been circulating for some time, but the website is up and the Leasing Office is OPEN! And it’s actually a pretty interesting site as you can search for specific rental units based on a move in date, and your preferred rental rate. And the rental rates just may shock you Midtown Atlanta renters!
After numerous searchs on the site, for a May 1, 2012 move-in date, the least expensive 1 Bedroom Condo (apartment) is on the 9th floor at a whopping $1649 per month! A May 1 move-in date search for a 2 bedroom/ 2.5 bath apartment found a home on the 6th floor at $2197 per month! So, that’s pretty low considering the building is 47 stories tall. So what would it take to be up in the sky I asked?
The Atlantic offers two 2 bedroom/2.5 bath apartments on the 38th Floor —- at a pricy $2883 per month! A jump to the 45th floor took the rental rate up to $3,591!! So that almost Penthouse view will set you back a few pennies! I was going to post a floor plan for a reference, but the above 45th Floor rental is shown to have 2200+ sq. ft. but the available floor plans for a 2/2.5 only go to 1,830 sq. ft. I’d say we best do some homework on these floor plans and rates.
The arrival of The Atlantic with 324 available homes comes at a time when two other luxury apartment buildings are under construction on 12th Street in Midtown Atlanta. So over the next 12-18 months, the Midtown rental market is certainly going to see some competition. The question remains is if these buildings, The Atlantic included, will be able to maintain these rental rates, or if we will see some “fire sales” in rental rates. In my history of working with many, many potential tenants, I’ve not had ANY willing to pay these kinds of rental rates in buildings like Viewpoint or Spire.
I’ll be off to check out these homes and will post a follow up in the coming days!
As a real estate agent, I am always asked, “What is your favorite Midtown Atlanta Condo building?” Yikes, I’m always cautious to answer that question, because not everyone wants the same things in a condo building. But, I’ll start by taking a look at 860 Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta, GA 30308….also known as Spire Midtown Atlanta.
I remember purchasing my Spire Midtown condo back in 2004! It reminded me of what the land rush of the 1800’s to the Western U.S. must have been like, minus technology and all! There was a model of the building located in the center of about a 1000 sq ft. sales center located across the street from the actual building site. And on a wall, there was a listing of the unit numbers for each side of the building. In the time I was in the Sales Center, I would venture that a black dot (reserved) went on a unit number every 10 minutes!
The developer hosted several pre-opening parties where you got to meet your new neighbors! Afterall, Spire Midtown was THE talk of the town! It was the first new building in Midtown following the wildly successful Metropolis Midtown. At the first party, we were given buttons that said “I live on the ____Floor!” So you could look for your neighbors! (I probably still have the button somewhere!)
The moral to this story? I think there is still the same passion about living in Spire Midtown Atlanta. There are still many of the original owners that live in the building. Others, like myself, have sold and moved on for various reasons. But the “community feel” of the building still remains.
In the elevator foyer, electronic screens display various pictures of Spire Midtown, taken by residents of the buildings. Most residents come and go from the parking level elevator foyers…those were upgraded in the past few years to feel more like a lobby themselves, instead of a service entrance. The actual lobby was transformed from the original rather plain design to the inviting one that is now. (It was the subject of MUCH controversy and talk and I’ll leave it at that!)
Another unique feature of 860 Peachtree Street NE is that every residential floor has a hugh picture window at the end of the hallway overlooking Peachtree Street. It makes the hallways brighter, and just gives you a place to go and look out if you want to!
There is hardly a bad view from any home in Spire Midtown Atlanta, and the building’s street level retail has developed nicely with mainstays like Fresh To Order and newcomers like Five Guys Burgers and a soon to open Mexican restaurant.
860 Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta GA 30308. A.K.A Spire Midtown Atlanta Condominiums. A pretty cool place to call home in Midtown Atlanta!
Looking for a Luxury Home or Condominium For Rent in Atlanta, GA?
Whether you are an executive relocating to the Atlanta area, perhaps a film star or a production executive, you will find everything from luxury in the sky to sprawling mansions that are sure to meet the most discerning individuals or families.
So what can you find in Luxury Rentals? Currently (March 21, 2012) there are 50 listings that show Furnished. This of course would be of interest to the Actor/Producer/Film Executive that is not bringing all their furnishings with them for the period of time they will be in Atlanta! There are some 200 listings available that would meet the needs of anyone looking for a longer term rental but actually MOVING to Atlanta and bringing there personal belongings with them.
Since some of the larger homes may be located outside of Atlanta proper, I’ve given you some links to other parts of the city where you will find luxury homes.
If you are looking for a Luxury Home or Condominium For Rent in Atlanta GA, contact me to help you find just what you need!
Keep in mind, the above searches do not distinquish between furnished or unfurnished.
If you have special needs (number of garage bays, pool or not, room for a home gym, etc. by contacting us, we can do a custom search based on exactly what you or your client may be looking for.
If you are trying to locate a Luxury Home or Condo For Rent close to a particular area of Atlanta or production facility, we can tailor that search for you! If you are concerned about commute times to the office or production facility or studio, we will be happy to check commute times. (There may be additional fees for this service. Please ask for further details.)
You give us the requirements, and we find the home or condo that is right for you or your client!
